


Muddy Water

by EidolonLathi



Category: Monster (Manga), 亜人 - 三浦追儺 & 桜井画門 | Ajin - Miura Tsuina & Sakurai Gamon
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 19:42:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9563594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EidolonLathi/pseuds/EidolonLathi
Summary: AU. Gen had tried his best to hide the fact that he’s an ajin. But despite his caution he got found out anyway. Being in the hands of people who sell ajin on the black market the question isn’t if someone is going to buy him but who it is going to be: A person simply unpleasant or a truly horrible one?





	

**Author's Note:**

> The manga hasn’t told us Gen’s first name yet so I had to made one up.

Apathetically Gen looked at the wires binding his arms and legs together, making it impossible for him to move. Though he knew there was no use, he tried moving them further apart, trying to make them loose, to create an opening, anything that would allow him to escape. But of course they remained as firmly bound as ever. The men securing him always made sure of that. 

Because of course, it wasn’t enough that it had been discovered that he was an ajin. It was discovered by the worst sort of scumbags possible: Gangsters whose only interest was to sell any ajin they could get hold off on the black market. The prices for them were stellar after all. They sure as hell had made sure there was no way for him to escape.

Half due to anger, half due to shock Gen let hear a shuddery sigh he did not even realize he had been withholding. He had been so careful. Since he had discovered that he was an ajin he had been so careful to make sure that no one could find out. Yet, despite all his planning’s, there were certain aspects of life – like train accidents for example – he just could not control. And so he had been found out. 

He did not even want to know what a person buying an ajin would want to do with them. Sadists getting the kick out of torturing someone, drug dealers wanting to try out their products before selling them, illegal organ trading, snuff pornography… There were countless reasons Gen could imagine how an ajin could be useful. But the most fear made him the things he could not imagine. Yet. 

Defiantly he stared at the huge mirror on the far end of the room. Maybe he was not the brightest person in the world but even he knew what kind of mirror this was: A one way mirror. Behind it on the other side of the room there were probably the people lining up who were interested in buying an ajin. Once more Gen felt anger boiling up inside his stomach. He might have been captured but he still would make sure to give the people responsible for this as much of a hard time as possible. “Until you have the strength doing so”, a tiny and treacherous voice inside of his head spoke up. “You won’t be the first defiant person they’re dealing with. They will know how to make sure you keep quiet.” 

Gen huffed in annoyance. Even so. He would try. He would patiently wait until he had an opportunity to strike back. It just was not fair that he was treated like some sort of thing just because he was an ajin. It was not like he had chosen to be this way! It just had happened. And despite everything, he would not have wanted to be any different. Because if he hadn’t turned out to be an ajin, well, in that case he would be dead by now. And Gen did not feel like dying. That was why the thought of rebellion was still so strong in his head. A pity ajins had never found a way to work together as a group. If that had been the case, it would have been the humans who would have to look out for their safety now. But in the time Gen had lived as an ajin he had not even be able to come up with an idea how to contact any other ajin. Let alone a whole bunch of it. 

Suddenly the door opened and the three guys usually dealing with Gen came in. Just seeing them shot a fresh wave of anger through Gen’s stomach. But there was not much time to think. They put that annoying cloth bag over his head, robbing him of his sight. 

How much time passed after this, Gen could not say. He never could when he had to wear that terrible thing. He had been hoisted up and dragged along until he was put into a car. The most annoying thing was that he could not understand all of the things the people around him were saying. Some were speaking Japanese and some a foreign language he could not understand. It might have been German or something. 

The injection came out of the blue. Gen had barely time to register that he had been injected with something when his consciousness already begun to fade. Once more a tranquillizer. How wonderful. 

For some time after this Gen remained drugged. He somehow realized that he was at a new location. There were people around him, talking in English and this foreign language to each other. The English he could understand well enough to get an idea what was going on but not that other, completely foreign language. Eventually he was given a bath and got new clothes. How much time he spent in that drugged state, he had no idea. He felt like biting the people restraining him and running away but the drugs were preventing him from doing so. 

On the first day Gen’s mind was finally clear again he was brought into a room. The building they were in seemed to be quite large so it took a while to arrive there. The room they arrived in was lit in the bright rays of the afternoon sun. The guards who looked like westerner’s made him stand in the middle of it and wait for something, never leaving his side. Gen looked around. The furniture of the room looked old but expensive, like the stuff found in antique stores. He thought it looked ugly and tasteless. Wistfully Gen looked down at the shirt they had given him to wear. He missed his cardigans. How much he wished he could wear one right now. If he was in a bad mood wearing them made him feel secure. 

The door creaked and a thin blond man was stepping in. He addressed the guards in English: “So, everything went well then. You can leave us alone now.”

A look of disagreement spread on the men’s face. The guard with freckles all over the face hesitantly spoke up: “Alone with an ajin? Are you sure this is a good idea?”

The blonde man nodded and showed an unreadable expression. “I’m sure if will be all right. You can go now.”

The guards said no more but still looked unhappy. Once they had left the man smiled at Gen. “I’ve heard you’re finally in a clear state of mind again. I’m sorry you had been drugged until now. The people who just left refused to deal with an ajin who was in possession of all of his strengths. They’re quite afraid of you, you see?” This had been spoken in perfectly good Japanese. The blond man had a bit of an accent but otherwise he did not sound that much different from a native speaker.

Unsure what to make of the situation Gen just shrugged his shoulder. “Oh. Oh yes, sure.”

“Oh, how rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Johan, Johan Liebert. Call me Johan, please. I’m the one who bought you. Nice to meet you.”

So, Gen had been bought by this Johan person. From where did he get the money to do so? Ajin were expensive to buy, really expensive. And he couldn’t be that much older than Gen. It was a bit tricky to guess though. One the one side this Johan guy looked quite young but on the other side the soft lines around his eyes indicated that he had to be at least some years older than Gen. It was hard to tell. Maybe pretty people just looked younger in general? What a weird situation. Gen decided to play along as good as he could. That seemed to be his best option for the moment being. So he continued talking: “My name is Gen Haruya. Nice to meet you.”

Johan still looked at him with those friendly eyes. “You won’t mind if I call you by your first name too, won’t you?”

What did it matter what Gen’s opinion about the matter was? It was not like he was in a situation to stop Johan from calling him whatever he wanted. So Gen just nodded: “Huh, yes sure, first name’s fine.”

A content expression showed up in Johan’s eyes. “How wonderful, I’m glad to hear that, Haruya. You know, it’s important to have people around who call you by your name. Otherwise it’s easy to forget who you are.”

What a weird remark. Gen made sure not to look surprised by it. “I see.”

Suddenly Johan’s face showed a thoughtful look: “I’m sorry we have to meet under such messed up circumstances. But this was the only way I could think of getting one.”

“Getting one?”

“An ajin. You see, there’s this project I’m working on since a very long time. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it could be continued so much easier if I had an ajin on my side who’ s helping me.”

Gen started to feel very lost, more than he already was. Nothing about any of this made sense. “You want me to help you with some sort of project?”

Johan’s eyes got a serious look. “Oh yes, I was hoping you would. Tell me Haruya, have you ever wondered what the end of the world might look like?”

“End of the world? Like in the apocalypse or something?”

“Apocalypse? Maybe, but not quite. Say Haruya, have you ever seen a great darkness?”

For the first time since he had arrived in this room Gen felt a flash of anger arise in his stomach. “Darkness? Well, I guess one could say that I’ve seen a very big one recently. Might even still be in there.”

For the first time since this conversation had started Johan’s composed act fell. His eyes widened in realization and he let hear an embarrassed laugh. “Oh, I’m so sorry, of course the last few days must have been very rough on you. They must have been. And you just arrived. But listen, as I said, I wanted to have you here because I would like you to help me. So please, let me explain everything, all right?”

“All right.” What other choice did Gen have? Because, if he refused to help, what would this Johan do? He had not said anything about that. Most likely he would just get rid of Gen and search for another ajin who was more willing to cooperate. 

Absent minded Johan shoved a strand of hair away from his eyes. “So, I was telling you about the end of the world. You see, there are so many ends in this world. I’ve seen so many. And every time I thought I’ve seen the greatest darkness something else happened and I saw an even darker one. Do you know what’s the worst thing is of seeing so many kinds of darkness?”

“I don’t know.”

“It isolates you. It sets you apart from the people who have never seen the darkness themselves.”

“I see”, Gen said, trying to sound like he understood the things Johan was saying.

“Even if you get along with someone, once the darkness begins to change you they stop understanding you. And even if you try to explain them how it feels, most of them never really understand.”

“I’m not sure I quite get what my role in all of this is.”

Johan’s face looked lively again. “As I said, I need an ajin for my project. Preferably one who has seen a piece of darkness themselves. When I saw you through that window I knew you’d be the right person.”

“Well, I had just been captured. Any person would feel like being in the darkness like that”, Gen said. 

Johan shook his head, eyes looking serious. “No, it’s not like that. It’s not just the shock of being captured. People who have seen the darkness for real have a certain look in their eyes. They wear their body in a certain kind of way. Once you know what to look for, it becomes obvious. I knew when I saw you.”

Gen was not sure he could still follow Johan’s reasoning. But as for now he had no choice as to play along. “Is that so? Ok.”

“Oh, it is. And now that I found you I can continue my plan. You see, the thing is this: I think it’s a wonderful thing to let as many people as possible experience this darkness.”

“Really?”

“Really. Say Haruya, haven’t you felt it too? How unfair it is that only you had to see the great darkness and most people around you were never forced to open their eyes and look at it themselves? I think it would be nice if they could see the same things we see, we, who had to survive in the darkness. I think understanding each other would be so much easier like that”, Johan said, smiling warmly at Gen.

It was then when Gen realized it. Johan was insane, completely, ragingly insane. Gen had not realized it before, because Johan behaved so well composed and had spoken in such a calm and collected manner. But the blue eyes looking into his own had made it clear. Now, that Gen had calmed down enough to read the expression in them it was so very clear to him. The man before him was insane. This could turn out to be dangerous if Gen reacted in a way Johan disapproved of. Or he could use this to his advantage. Once he knew what Johan wanted Gen could give it to him. If he was just patient enough there was still hope that he could turn this desperate situation around for his advantage. Gen had to try at least. 

After all, one little thing played into Gen’s favour. He had noticed that Johan felt alone and wanted to belong to someone. Because, maybe Johan was right with his crazy claim to be able to detect people who had seen this ominous darkness. But the thing Gen happened to be good at was detecting people who felt lonely and wanted to belong somewhere. People who were like him

And anyway, it was not as if he had a choice right now. Still feeling confused and vulnerable with all the things that were going on at the moment, Gen tried to muster up a polite smile. “So, Johan, you want to let people experience darkness, did I get that right? Tell me more about it and explain to me how I might help you.”

The insanity still lingered in Johan’s eyes but a look of relieve crossed his face. With a slight smile he continued talking. 

 

The End


End file.
